Alexander VI

Rodrigo Borgia is the pope people think of when they think of papal corruption, and the reputation is largely earned. He bribed his way to the papacy in 1492, fathered at least seven children by multiple mistresses, and installed his relatives in positions of power across Italy. His son Cesare Borgia was a ruthless political operator who may have committed murder. Alexander divided the New World between Spain and Portugal with the Treaty of Tordesillas, a geopolitical act with enormous consequences for colonized peoples. He used the papal office to advance Borgia family interests with an openness that scandalized even his contemporaries. Yet he was also an effective administrator, a skilled diplomat, and a patron of the arts who commissioned Pinturicchio to paint the Borgia Apartments in the Vatican. He wasn't stupid or incompetent. He was simply a man who treated the papacy as a political prize rather than a spiritual office. The Church survived him, which may be the strongest argument for divine protection.